QD Leap: Part Two Another Stitch In Time
by Lady Aurora
Summary: Follows Into the Night! The aftermath. Uh.. there's something funky going on in the Accelerator Chamber!
1. Default Chapter Title

DISCLAMER: All characters belong to Paramount Studios and Bellasarius productions. Used without permission but with lots of  
respect!

Another Stitch In Time  
Chapter One

* * *

Military Hospital  
Holloway Air Force Base  
Alamogordo, NM  
June 3, 2001

Jim shifted uncomfortably in his seat and sighed. He looked briefly over at the young woman beside him who was nervously bouncing a toddler on her knees. He had to smile at the chortles of delight coming from his nephew. Then a pang of sadness went through him when again he remembered that the small child was the only one who had come out of the explosion unscathed. Jim sighed so heavily that the young woman looked over at him.

"You okay, Uncle Jim?" she asked.

Jim forced a smile onto his face. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking, that's all."

Maxine looked at him critically. "Uh huh, and I'm the Queen of England."

Jim had to laugh. It was at moments like this that she sounded so much like her father. "Listen, Max, I'm alright. It's just been a rough few days."

"Tell me something I don't know," the dark haired 17 year-old muttered. "I just wish those nozzle doctors would figure out what's wrong with my Dad already and fix him!"

Jim put his arm comfortingly around Maxine's shoulders. He wasn't sure what he could say that would make her feel any better. He felt partly responsible for her father's condition. As soon as he had been gruffly dismissed by Admiral Berekson, he'd immediately begun searching through the crowds for Admiral Calavicci, Donna, and his nephew John.

Just when he'd really begun to fear that they were still in the complex, he'd spotted Donna standing on a rocky outcropping by the entranceway. In her arms, she held the wailing bundle that was his nephew John. Jim wondered how she had gotten up there, but after a moment of searching in the darkness, he spotted a set of stairs leading up to where she was. As he climbed them, he called her name and got no response. When he reached the top he called to her again, and still got no response. By this time, Jim could see the dazed expression on Donna's face. He reached out and touched her gently on the shoulder, hoping that would bring her back to her senses. She turned slowly, as if in a dream, a look of total non-recognition in her eyes.

"Donna? Donna, it's me, Jim," he said to her. "Let me take the baby," he said, and carefully removed the infant from her arms.

"J-Jim?" she whispered, and then collapsed to the ground.

For a split second Jim felt sheer and utter panic as he stared down at the crumpled body of his sister-in-law, then instinct took over. "MEDIC!" he yelled out over the outcropping. "I need a medic with a stretcher, stat!"

Voices rising from below told him that help was on its way. Several white helmeted figures came running up the stairs and carefully maneuvered Donna's still form onto the stretcher. "Sir?" another one of them asked, "Would you like for me to take the baby?"

Jim nodded as he handed the baby to the medic. "Yes, just make sure he's in the room with her when she wakes up. Has anyone seen Admiral Calavicci yet?"

"No, sir, I don't think so."

He watched as they descended the stairs, shock starting to creep through him as the enormity of the situation hit him like a ton of bricks. "My God," he whispered.

Jim looked out over the plateau below, watching as, here and there, small pockets of order formed out of the chaos. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever suspected that his brother-in-law's pet project could be this dangerous. They all knew shortly after Sam had made his fateful first leap, that Sam wouldn't be returning any time soon. But he'd always believed that someday Sam would be successfully retrieved. But after all this? It almost seemed impossible.

A fierce resolve started to grow within him. There was NO way he was going to tell his wife that her brother was never coming back, even if he had to rebuild the damn thing from scratch! Jim scrambled down the stairs and through the throng of rescuers, asking each one he passed if they had seen the Admiral. When it became fairly clear to him that no one had seen the Admiral, Jim ran up to a squad of Marines and ordered them to follow him.

Sprinting towards the entranceway, Jim knew that the only possible place that Al could be was still inside the complex. He forced himself to slow his frantic pace as they went down the ramp into the great hanger-like entrance, trying to moderate his fear of the unknown with his loyalty to the man he'd known for sixteen years. Silence and darkness greeted them as they passed through the giant doors, still partially open, and into the complex. He thanked the gods as the Marines broke out their flashlights, something that he'd forgotten to pick up in his haste to find Al.

As they inched their way through the deserted complex to the emergency stairs, Jim's hopes rose at seeing the relatively undamaged state of his surroundings. He began to think that maybe it wasn't as bad as he had originally feared. But, as they made their way down the stairs to the all-important tenth level, the smoke continued to grow thicker with each step, until they were forced to climb back to the fifth level and wait while one of the Marines came back with gas masks.

When they resumed their descent, Jim's hope slowly died, and he began to really fear that they would not find the Admiral alive. At the bottom of the stairs, they had to crouch to see through the smoke that rolled out of the open doorway, and they could see the flicker of flames against the walls.

"Sir?" one of the Marines called to him, "I don't think this is a good idea."

Jim turned and glared at the Marine. "We're just going to take a quick look. If I'm right, there's still someone down here."

Jim led them cautiously through the smoke. Rubble littered the floor, and at one point a large beam blocked their path. Jim rifled through his memory; he'd only actually been down here a few times in the past. _Around that corner and down a long hallway, maybe?_ he thought. _Left here or right? What was it my kids used to say during those games of Dungeons and Dragons? When in doubt, turn right? Okay then, right it is!_ As they proceeded, Jim began to remember his way with more confidence. When he turned another corner, he spotted a faint flashing light in the darkness ahead. Jim tried to puzzle out what it could be since all the power was obviously off. Suddenly, he recalled the multicolored handlinks that they used to access information from the main computer. His heart sped up when one of the flashlight beams bounced off a bright fabric that could only be from one of the Admiral's infamous outfits.

"Al!" he choked out as he approached the still form lying on the floor. "Al! Can you hear me?"

He knelt down beside Al. A faint blue spark briefly flared off of the Admiral and shocked Jim's fingers as he reached out to check for a pulse on his neck. "What the hell?!" he muttered, jerking his hand back.

He reached out again, extremely cautiously, and breathed a sigh of relief when nothing happened as he searched again for a pulse on Al's neck. His heart skipped a beat when he didn't find one. He repositioned his fingers slightly and was rewarded by a flutter beneath his fingertips.

"He's alive!" he called the Marines. "Let's get him out of here!"

"Captain Bonnick?"

Jim came out of his reverie with a start and looked up at the nurse standing in front of him. "Yes?"

"You can go in to see her now."

Jim nodded, and with a brief smile at Maxine he followed the nurse down the hall and into one of the rooms. Lying on the bed was the still form of Donna. Her eyes were open and seemed to be staring at some spot on the far wall. Jim sighed when she took no notice of his entrance into the room, and sank heavily into the chair beside her bed.

"Donna?" he called softly to her. "It's me, Jim." An agonizing pain shot through his heart when she didn't answer and her gaze never left that spot, just like every other visit he'd made each day since the explosion. "Alright then, if you don't want to talk, that's okay by me."

The doctors had told him that the more that familiar people interacted with her, the better her chances of recovery. "I just wanted to catch you up on things. John's being spoiled rotten by Al's daughters, but he's being well taken care of. Sammy's already chomping at the bit to join the clean-up crews in the complex, but the docs want to keep her, Tina, and Gushie here a couple more days for observation. Tom, Katie, and Thelma came in this morning so you'll probably see them here in a little while. Right now, Tom should be having a chat with the Foundation about putting the two of us temporarily in charge of repairs until either you or Al are out of the hospital.

"Oh yeah, when I was at the Project yesterday, there were some radiation guys practically scrabbling at the Control Room door like a pack of hungry dogs." He chuckled at the thought. "And then there's the computer guys who're keeping an eye on the backup systems on level 7. You should've seen their faces when they first saw it; they were practically drooling! Gushie says that if they touch anything, he's going to look into putting together a firing squad. You know, I think he's even got the Brass frightened of him? And it's not just his breath."

Jim paused and studied her face for a moment. "Donna, I want you to know that we're all here for you and Sam. We're all going to do everything possible to bring Sam home to you, but you've got to pull out of this to be there when he gets back."

"Jim?" a female voice said behind him.

Jim turned in his seat and smiled. "Hey, honey. I was just filling Donna in on things."

His wife Katie came into the room and behind her was her mother, Thelma. "That's good. Hi, Donna! Sorry it took us such a long time to fly up here, but I needed to close up the house and kennel the dogs."

Jim relinquished his seat to Thelma who took Donna's hand in hers,. "Donna sweetie, its Thelma."

Jim motioned for Katie to follow him out of the room while his mother-in-law spoke in soft, comforting tones to Donna. Once outside, he slumped against the wall. Katie wound her arms around his shoulders and laid her head against his chest.

"Oh, Jim," she murmured.

"I know, Kate, but its going to be okay." He kissed the top of her head. "Where's the brood?"

"They're in the waiting area with Maxine and John. She looked like she needed some cheering up so we stayed with her for a little while before coming down here."

Jim sighed. "Ruth and Sharon are down at the cafeteria right now, so they'll probably be back soon to give her a hand, and Janet was gonna meet Tom at the Foundation this morning. Those four are quite amazing, Kate."

Katie looked up at Jim. "Well, considering who their father is, I'm not surprised. Al was - dammit, I mean is - a pretty strong person. Speaking of Al, how's he doing?"

"Still in a coma, unfortunately." Jim shook his head sadly,. "They've still got him quarantined in the radiation unit, since he was the last one out."

"So no one's actually been in to see him?" she asked him.

"No. They told the girls they'd probably be bringing him out in another day or so. Personally, I think they're being just a little bit overcautious."

Katie said nothing for a moment and then murmured, "Jim, what if Sam"

"Shhh, sweetie It's all going to work out."

--  
Project Quantum Leap  
Stallions Gate, NM  
June 18, 2001  
09:30hrs

Over the past two weeks, Project Quantum Leap had again become a hive of activity. Generators were flown in by military transports and power was slowly restored to nine out of the ten levels. On the tenth level that housed the Control Room, Imaging Chamber, and Accelerator, portable lighting had been strung through the corridors like Christmas lights to allow the clean-up crews and engineers to see what they were doing. It had taken a little over a week before the engineers proclaimed the level safe enough for them to begin assessing the amount of repairs needed to bring the facility back online. 

Then, following a number of free and frank exchanges of view on how to proceed, an air lock had been set up at the entrance to the Control Room. Finally, everything was in place to see what damage had been done inside.

"Tom!" Sammy called as she jogged down the hallway to catch up with him. "Wait up, dammit!"

Tom closed his eyes as he stopped and waited for the physicist to catch up with him. "Hi, Sammy. What's up?"

"You know damn well what's up! What the hell's going on? I thought I was the one going in!"

She must have already been at the lock, he thought. "Change of plans, kiddo. I thought"

"Oh you thought, did you? You're in the military; you should know that's a big mistake!" Her green eyes flashed angrily as she glared at him.

"That's quite enough of that, Dr. Fuller!" he snapped at her,. "As I was trying to say, I thought that given the wreckage outside and the unknown conditions inside the Control Room, it would be safer to send in someone with two good arms and who's not so vital to the Project."

Sammy waved her good arm in frustration. "You don't know what you're dealing with, General Beckett!" she shot back.

"Neither do you. That's the point. Look, Sammy," he softened his tone, "the guy we're sending in will have a full audio and video link-up to the command center up on seven. You'll be able to talk him through the whole thing."

"But!"

"No 'buts', Sammy. This is how we're doing it."

Sammy glared at him for a moment more and then sagged in defeat. "It isn't fair, just because I've got a bum arm," she muttered.

Tom chuckled. There were times when she reminded him so much of his brother. Maybe it was a trait of genius, he didn't know. "I know what you mean. Now, would you care to join me? I'm on my way upstairs now."

--

The command center was set up on level seven. It had been decided to use the same room as the computer back-up systems since it already had the necessary technology that they would need. Gushie hovered protectively over the memory banks as technicians made the last few adjustments to the video and audio hook-ups.

As Sammy entered with Tom she heard Gushie muttering, "Video screens? What are these people thinking? Gimme an hour, I'll have a whole 3D Vid system online!"

Sammy frowned. It had become obvious over the past two weeks that they had lost what little control that they had over what happened to the Project. She knew that Tom and Jim meant well, but the PQL team had worked hard over the past six years to keep the military presence in the Project down to a minimum. If only Al wasn't She gave herself a little shake; there was no sense in thinking like that, especially right now.

"Good morning!" she said loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear her, "We might as well get started." She swiftly made her way over to the obvious command chair, heading off Tom as he walked towards it. "Tina? Gushie? Would you take over the computer tie-in systems?"

Both Gushie and Tina looked at her in surprise for a few moments and then went over and displaced the two military technicians already in place.

"Alrighty then! Let's do this, shall we? Gushie, please signal the team at the air lock that we're ready to proceed."

Gushie tapped a series of keys in front of him and then the large video screen that dominated the wall in front of them buzzed to life. The image was from a camera mounted on the radiation suit of the Lieutenant who had been chosen to go in.

"Lieutenant?" Sammy called out. "Anytime you're ready."

"Ready, doctor," the lieutenant replied.

The image shifted away from the technicians who had helped him into the suit to the large door to the airlock. The only sound that could be heard was the Lieutenant's breathing as the airlock door slid open, allowing him to enter. Sammy felt her guts twist in anticipation, this was the one event she'd been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading for the past two weeks. She watched as he turned and pushed the internal button to close the outside door. Then the image turned and faced the light gray metal door of the Control Room.

"Okay, folks, hang onto your hats! Here we go!" Sammy said. "Alright, Lieutenant. We're going to enter the code to open the door."

She nodded at Gushie who then tapped in the code. For a millisecond nothing happened. The command center was ominously silent as every eye was glued on the video screen. Then everyone sighed in relief as the door slowly began to open.

"I'm turning on my lamps now," the lieutenant reported after the door had opened completely, revealing darkness beyond. The ramp leading up into the Control Room was suddenly illuminated by the high-powered lights mounted on top of the suit. "I'm going up the ramp."

"Come on," Sammy whispered. "Be okay, please!"

As he proceeded up the ramp, almost everyone in the command center was at the edges of their seats. As the camera slowly revealed the state of the Control Room, a collective gasp was uttered by everyone in the room. Cables and charred panels hung down from the ceiling; a large supporting beam lay beside a pile of rubble where one wall had collapsed completely; and the main console was a mound of melted slag, probably from when Ziggy's systems had overloaded.

"Dr. Fuller?" Gushie's voice had a rough tone to it.

Sammy nodded. "Lieutenant, could you look up and slightly to the right please?"

"Roger, Doctor."

The image shifted crazily for a moment and then settled on what was left of the parallel hybrid computer's main processor. The once sapphire blue globe was now a charred, blackened, melted piece of surreal sculpture hanging from a single cable attached to the ceiling.

Sammy heard an indescribable sound from the programmer and she looked over just in time to see his anguished expression before he buried his face in his hands. Her heart went out to him. Next to his wife, Ziggy had been almost his whole life. Sammy glanced at the memory banks on the other side of the room and hoped that Ziggy had had enough time to do a complete backup before the explosion.

"Gushie," Sammy said softly. "I know how you feel, but she's not gone."

Tina had taken her husband's hand in hers. "But we don't know that for certain, Sammy," Tina said in crisp, clipped tones. All trace of her Brooklyn accent was gone for the moment. "For all we know, what made Ziggy, Ziggy, could be lost forever."

"I won't believe that Tina," Sammy said firmly. "I can't believe that."

"Sammy," Tom said softly from behind her. "We really should continue the inspection. We've only got a week until the meeting with the Foundation."

Sammy nodded briskly. "Okay, Lieutenant, let's proceed. How are your readings so far?"

A soft sigh of relief rippled through the room as the image shifted away from the ruined processor to the Geiger counter he held. "Readings are nominal, Doctor. I've got greens across the board."

Sammy looked at the indicator panel at the lower left hand corner of the display screen and nodded. _So far so good,_ she thought. _So to speak. Now if it stays that way, we'll actually be able to get in there this afternoon._

"There's a ramp off to your left Lt.; could you turn that way please?"

"The ramp seems clear to me," he reported, confirming what they could already see.

"Go up please."

The door at the top of the ramp was stuck three quarters of the way down. Sammy looked inquiringly at Tom, who nodded. "Okay Lieutenant, I think we're ready for the next power shunt, so be ready. We don't know how stable those circuits will be, so you may have to move quickly if they decide to overload."

"Understood, Doctor," he replied.

"Okay, Gushie, do your magic!"

As Gushie tapped in another elaborate sequence into his keyboard, Sammy could see the door shudder as power began to flow through it. A splash of sparks ignited at one corner briefly, but vanished as the door rose slowly until it disappeared completely above. Beyond the now-open door, they could see the two entranceways into the Imaging and Accelerator Chambers. Sammy again glanced at the radiation read-out on the screen and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that it hadn't changed.

"Seems intact," the Lt. commented.

"So far," Sammy replied. "Gushie, do those doors have power?"

Gushie nodded. "They're on the same circuit as the other, Sammy, but I don't know much longer that'll hold."

"Alright then, let's do a quick check of the Imaging Chamber first, Lieutenant," Sammy ordered. "In the center of the column between the two doors, there's a removable panel which houses the manual controls. Just press on it and it'll pop off."

They watched as he ran his gloved hands over the column and removed the panel.

"Okay, now all you have to do is take the left handle, pull it towards you, and turn it counter-clockwise," she instructed. "That should open the Imaging Chamber door."

"Roger, Doctor," he said as he followed her instructions. The door to his left slid jerkily upwards. "Readings are still nominal."

As he stepped into the Chamber, the radiation readings gave a brief hiccup as he passed through the radium ring. The normally shiny floor was littered with dust and small debris as he walked forward into the cavernous room.

"Wow," he said, letting out a low whistle. "It sure is big in here."

Sammy chuckled. "It's almost one square mile in there, Lieutenant. Fortunately, things look pretty good. Ziggy must have been able to shut things down before the explosion. I want you to do a careful check with the Geiger counter, Lt. We need to know if the radium ring was damaged."

It took almost fifteen minutes to determine that not only was the radium ring still intact, but also that most of the imaging equipment appeared to be functional.

"Alright, Lieutenant, we're going to go on to door number two!" Sammy's spirits had risen greatly, the relative lack of damage in the IC giving her hope that the AC had come through similarly unscathed. "You'll need to close the IC door before you can open the other one."

"Understood."

He turned and pushed the handle to close the IC door, and then proceeded to open the AC door. As it slowly rose, a bluish light could be seen flickering beyond the door.

"My God," Sammy gasped as the door opened completely.

"Lieutenant, check your radiation levels!" Tom snapped, resuming command.

"Uh there's a slight rise but nothing dangerous," he replied. "Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing here?"

Undulating in the middle of the Chamber was what appeared to be a six foot long snake of lightning, which was wreathed in a halo of glowing gasses and smaller fingers of lightning crawling up and down its length like fiery, agitated spiders. 

"What the hell is it?" Tom asked Sammy.

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like it before," she replied. 

"It's beautiful," she heard Tina gasp.

"I'm going to see if I can get any readings off of it," the lieutenant said and took a step into the chamber.

Suddenly the image on the screen began to warp, swirling into a rippling mass of angry colors. The only thing that stayed in focus was the snake itself, which started to pulsate rapidly.

"Uh I'm," came the Lieutenant's voice through the speakers.

"Lieutenant?" Tom barked. "Can you hear me?"

"There's," was the only reply.

Gushie groaned. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Lieutenant! Get out of there, do you hear me! Get out, NOW!" Tom called frantically as he saw the radiation levels start to spike.

"General I," there was a bright flash and they heard hear him scream briefly. Then the video screen went black.

Everyone stared at the screen, stunned for a moment, then "Gushie! Get me the team at the lock, now!" Tom ordered.

Gushie nodded and his fingers flashed across the keyboard.

"Yes, General?" a voice said.

"I need you guys suited up and in there on the double!" Tom growled. "We've lost contact. Find him and bring him out."

Sammy shook herself out of her shock and croaked, "They'll need to close the door."

Tom nodded and gave his men the instructions on how to do it. They waited through a tense few minutes until the team reported in again.

"Sir, we've found him," the captain of the team reported.

"What's his status, Captain?" Tom asked.

"Uh, well, sir," the captain stammered, "He's dead, sir. Burned badly. It looks like he was blasted out of the room."

"Acknowledged, Captain. Close the door and bring him out." Tom sighed and then looked at Sammy. "I think we have a problem."

* * *


	2. Default Chapter Title

DISCLAMER: All characters belong to Paramount Studios and Bellasarius productions. Used without permission but with lots of respect!

Another Stitch In Time  
Chapter Two

* * *

Project Quantum Leap  
Stallions Gate, NM  
June 18, 2001  
10:45hrs

Ever since Tom had rushed out of the command center twenty minutes ago, just after the captain had checked in, Sammy-Jo had sat in the command chair staring at the blank screen. Around her, the military technicians were whispering about her silent state since that poor lieutenant had lost his life.

"She's just in shock; that could have been her."

"She was supposed to go in, but the General talked her out of it."

"Ice queen, that's what she is."

But Gushie and Tina both stayed silent. They had worked with her long enough to know that when she became motionless like this, that her thought processes were working in overdrive. They knew that soon enough she would come back to the world with at least two theories on what had happened in the Accelerator.

Gushie quickly typed in a sequence that would send a copy of the sensor logs into Ziggy's memory. He was determined to keep her updated on all developments until they could rebuild her and bring her back online. He didn't really care what others said,; Ziggy was as much a person to everyone at PQL as anyone else. There were times when she seemed even more human than most of the people he'd known over the years. He looked over to the memory banks again and sighed.

"Hey you," Tina said softly, touching his hand.

Gushie shrugged and smiled wanly. "Yeah, I know."

Tina grinned back at him. "So stop worryin', already!"

He chuckled softly. "Can't help it, dear."

Tina leaned over towards him and whispered in his ear, "Well, layta I'll give ya sometin' else ta think about."

Gushie had to restrain himself to keep from laughing out loud.

"Gushie?" he heard Sammy call softly to him.

He turned in his seat and saw the familiar glassy look in her eyes. "Yes, Dr. Fuller?"

"Can you hook me up a graphical and numerical interface into the main systems, please?" she asked softly.

Gushie nodded and motioned to Tina who smiled brightly. Together, they set up a side-by-side keyboard and graphics grid by each of her hands in under five minutes and set the cables into the main consoles. Sammy's fingers began to fly across them at an amazing pace, causing a series of numbers and letter equations to flash across the main screen. Gushie watched intently as bits and pieces of programming code intermingled with the complex quantum equations until the whole thing coalesced into a fully interactive graphic of the anomaly in the Accelerator. The graphic was quickly allocated to it's own small box in one corner of the screen and then again code and equations dominated the screen.

The whole command center grew quiet as Gushie and Tina isolated the first program, set it into permanent memory, and kept up with Sammy's typed queries for data from the memory banks. The three of them worked in silence for nearly thirty minutes until four graphics dominated each corner of the screen, and a complex series of equations ran continuously through the middle. When Gushie finally registered that there were no new data requests coming in, he turned in his seat.

Sammy was leaned back in the command chair with a pained look on her face and a hand on her injured shoulder.

"Dr. Fuller?" he asked her. "You want me to get you something for the pain?"

Sammy shook her head and said softly, "No, it's not that bad. At least I have something that tells me I'm alive."

"And that would be?" a voice asked from the doorway to the command center.

Gushie jumped. "Captain Bonnick? What are you doing here?" the programmer asked. "We thought you were at the hospital this morning."

Jim leaned nonchalantly against the doorframe, his arms crossed in front of him,. "I was, but I came here to give you some good news,; and from the looks of things, you guys need to hear some."

"Al?" Sammy asked as she spun her chair around to face him.

Jim grinned broadly. "He came out of his coma about an hour ago."

"Do you know what time, exactly?" Sammy asked him earnestly.

Gushie looked at her, curious as to why she would ask such a question.

Jim frowned,. "I dunno exactly; why?"

Sammy looked like she was ready to leap out of her chair and shake the information out of him. "It's very important, Jim; please!"

"Well, let me see Max came running into Donna's room at about twenty after ten, so I guess it was about five minutes or so before that," Jim said thoughtfully. "Now, would you please tell me why? You've got that look in your eye, y'know the one you usually have just before you tell us something big."

"I knew it! I knew it!" Sammy practically crowed. "It all makes sense now!"

"What?!" Tina asked, exasperated.

Sammy grinned,. "Space and time, my dear Tina, space and time."

--

Chambers of the Committee  
Washington, DC  
June 26, 2001  
10:55hrs

"So, General Beckett, in your opinion, do you think that these so-called 'Technomancers' pose a threat to our National Security?" Senator Wietzman asked.

Tom sighed. He didn't know how Al ever got through these meetings without popping Wietzman one. "Unknown at the moment, sir. However, I believe that, potentially, they may be one of the greatest threats we've ever faced."

The room grew silent as the implications of Tom's statement sank in. Then Wietzman chuckled softly.

"So let me get this straight, General. You're saying that there's a group of computer aided sorcerers in some 'alternate universe' that are trying to not only take over the country but the entire world through Project Quantum Leap. Have I summed it up accurately?" Wietzman scoffed.

"Senator, I know it sounds unbelievable, but," Tom started to reply.

"Unbelievable?!? It's beyond unbelievable; it's entered the realm of bad science fiction!" Wietzman roared,. "Do you have even one scrap of evidence to prove this?"

"We managed to recover the security video recorded during the Dalton Michaels takeover attempt, Senator." Tom clenched his hands in order to keep from shouting himself.

"May I remind you that one man does not make a conspiracy? Can you prove that he came from this 'alternate universe' General?"

"Senator, the tape clearly shows how Michaels left." Damn! Why does this blowhard have to be so difficult? Tom thought to himself.

"Ah, yes, the tape. Let's discuss the tape, shall we? At no point in this tape are the words 'alternate universe' or 'Technomancer' ever mentioned! And as for how this 'Dalton Michaels' left, well my grandson could generate better special effects on his home computer."

"Senator Wietzman," Senator McBride spoke up, "we are not here to discuss the merits of cinematography, but to determine whether or not to grant the 1.2 billion dollars it will take to rebuild Project Quantum Leap. Kindly stay on the topic at hand."

"General Beckett," Senator McBride continued, "if we grant funding, how long do you estimate it would take to effect repairs? I seem to recall that it took Dr. Beckett a good three years to complete level ten."

Tom looked down at his notes. "According to Dr. Fuller and Drs. Conelf, approximately two months."

Wietzman's eyebrows raised in shock. "Two months? I don't see how you could do it in that time."

Tom grinned. "Well, Senators, after Dalton Michael's aborted attempt at destroying the Accelerator, the command staff formulated a backup plan in case something similar happened again." Tom pulled out a file from the pile on the table and handed it to the clerk, who handed it to McBride. "All of the main computer's core programs were backed up on secondary systems not housed on that level, and fortunately they came through the explosion intact. In addition, we have the schematics that Dr. Beckett left behind of the Accelerator and Imaging Chambers to work from. With that, and a double crew working around the clock, they estimate that they should be ready to contact Dr. Beckett and Commander Connelly in approximately two months."

"And just who is this Commander Connelly, General?" Wietzman asked. "Has anyone actually seen or met her?"

"Well, Admiral Calavicci has had contact with her through the Imaging Chamber, Senator."

"So you say. There's still no actual proof that she even exists, is there?"

"Senator," Tom bristled, "If you're asking whether I trust Admiral Calavicci's word or not, then the answer is yes, Senator, I do."

"Humph!" Wietzman glowered from his chair.

"General Beckett, the committee is not doubting the Admiral's verity," Senator McBride reassured with a stern glance at Wietzman. "However, returning to the matter at hand, judging from these damage reports it's still going to be a lot of work. And I see here that you plan improvements to the Imaging Chamber?"

"Yes, Ma'am. While creating this backup plan, we conferred with Commander Connelly's computer Zadam. He helped Dr. Fuller's team formulate some new programs and microchips based on some of his universe's technology, which is quite ahead of our own." He riffled through the file and held up a diagram. "Also, Zadam shared with us the schematic of a new power generator that will give the Project it's own energy source." He grinned. "So, when we need some extra power we won't have to brown out any cities."

"Power generator?"

"Yes, Ma'am. The power generator was apparently a recent accomplishment in their universe. Totally non-polluting and self-perpetuating." Tom had to raise his voice to be heard over the susurrus of the Senators whispering to each other. "The two computers shared a lot of information in the three and half weeks they were linked together. Dr. Conelf is still sifting through it all, but if he can get it to work, I think we just may have a new generation of technology that will benefit the entire world."

Senator McBride banged the gavel for order. "Senators, please!"

The panel once again fell silent. Tom surreptitiously tugged at the collar of his uniform jacket and hoped this wouldn't go on much longer.

"You say the computers were exchanging information for over three weeks, General?" Wietzman asked archly. "It seems to me that the Project's own computer is a greater threat to National Security than the Technomancers are."

Tom looked at Wietzman sharply. "If anything, Senator, we seem to have come out ahead of the deal."

"Oh really? And I imagine that the Technomancer High Council feels the same way?" Wietzman smirked.

How did he? Tom wondered. Unless An ugly thought began to take form in his mind.

"The point is, Senator," Tom leaned over and rummaged around in his briefcase, "that we have an advantage over them."

"Which is, General?" Senator Bartlett asked.

"That, one-on-one, we can beat any technomancer they throw at us." Tom pulled a small gray device out and palmed it into his pocket as he pulled out another file. "When I said earlier that Technomancers may pose a serious threat, I was speaking of them as a group. As you saw on the security video, a single one such as this Dalton Michaels doesn't pose too serious a threat to us."

Tom paused, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Wietzman who was turning an angry shade of red. "Admiral Calavicci was able to send him home with his tail between his legs," continued Tom.

"Not without help he wasn't!" Wietzman barked. "Without Connelly's interference, the Project would look even worse than it does now!"

As Tom's suspicion edged its way to a certainty, he had to fight back the urge to play his hand too soon. He had to make sure he gave Wietzman enough rope to hang himself with. He surreptitiously took the device out of his pocket and hid it in his hand.

"I sincerely doubt that. From what I could see, Michaels was strictly a third rate operative. He wouldn't have lasted three minutes against real soldiers instead of scientists. In fact, the only reason he lasted as long as he did with scientists is because he managed that little parlor trick of appearing to be someone else." Tom said flippantly.

Wietzman stood up so quickly he knocked his chair over. Tom pressed a button on the side of the device. Lights flashed across its top and it started beeping wildly. Tom grinned as all the color drained out of Wietzman's face when he realized he'd been tricked.

"General," Senator McBride asked, "what's the meaning of this?"

"The meaning, Madame Chairwoman, is that you have a fox in the hen house. That's not Senator Wietzman, but a Technomancer in disguise." Tom smirked. "A Technomancer by the name of Dalton Michaels, if I'm not mistaken."

"Dalton Michaels?!? But that's," Senator McBride exclaimed, shaken.

"The same piece of" Tom stopped himself just in time. "As in the Dalton Michaels in the security video? That's right," Tom replied. "And this little beauty is just one of the pieces of technology that was shared with us." He glared at the horrified looking Wietzman. "After Dalton Michaels infiltrated the complex by impersonating Matthews, Zadam gave them the design of this. It picks up the trace signals of Technomancer implants."

Wietzman bolted for the door to the Senator's entrance to the Chamber.

"Stop him!" Tom roared.

Just as Wietzman reached the door, two burly Marines came barreling through it. As each Marine grabbed a wrist, a red glow flared out from Wietzman, instantly incinerating the Marines. A third Marine was coming in through the same door, but at the sight of his comrades in two piles of ashes, he stopped and drew his weapon. Wietzman reacted quickly, spinning around and running back the way he came. With the agility of a much younger man, he vaulted over the Committee table and ran for the other exit.

As the pseudo-Wietzman raced past Tom's table, Tom stretched out his arm, clotheslining the Technomancer. As Michaels fell to the floor, gasping, Tom pounced on him and started pummeling him mercilessly. " and this one, you bastard, is for screwing up the Accelerator so badly that I lost one of my men " Tom hit him again. "And that one is for me, for making me have to wear this damn dress uniform and come to this circus." Tom gave him a solid punch in the jaw. "And THAT is for my little brother, who is who-knows-where thanks to you!"

Two Marines pulled Tom off the bloodied and now revealed Michaels. Tom blinked back his rage in surprise at seeing the very proof Michaels had been demanding.

Michaels glared up at him and gave an evil smile. "You haven't seen the last of me, Beckett! We'll meet again, I promise."

There was a blinding flash of red light and the space where Michaels had been was now vacant.

"I'm looking forward to it, you putz!" Tom growled as he straightened his uniform. He turned back to the still shaken Committee. "Senators, as you can see, the Technomancer threat is very real. Commander Connelly, the staff of Project Quantum Leap, and my brother, Dr. Beckett, have the knowledge and skills to remove this threat to our nation and our universe. If you refuse our request and discontinue the Project, not only would you be stranding two good people on the winds of time, but you would also be playing right into the hands of the Technomancers. Grant us the funding to make repairs to PQL and I can guarantee that we can eliminate the threat." Tom leveled a stern gaze at each of them. "Senators, they're afraid of us. That's why they sent Michaels,; to kill the Project and leave us defenseless."

Senator McBride conferred briefly with her colleagues and then spoke. "General, we agree with your position that the threat is very real" Tom started to open his mouth to thank her, but she raised her hand to interrupt him. "However," she continued, "the security risk is too high for this matter to be decided at this level."

"But," Tom began, only to be interrupted again.

"We are going to have to defer the final decision as to the disposition of the Project and the level of military involvement in it to the Joint Chiefs and the President. Meanwhile, we will release the funds to begin repairs to the Project. Our recommendation will be that you are to retain command and oversee the rebuilding until such time as Admiral Calavicci is sufficiently recovered. We trust that you will follow any security precautions that may be ordered, and will share any technological information pertaining to our defense against the Technomancers."

As Tom began packing up his things, Senator McBride asked, "Oh, and General?"

Tom looked up. "Yes, Senator?"

"You wouldn't by any chance have any more of those useful little devices, would you?" she asked. "I, for one, would sleep better having one."

--

Military Hospital  
Holloway Air Force Base  
Alamogordo, NM  
July 3, 2001  
13:17hrs

Maxine slipped quietly into her father's hospital room. They had told her at the nursing station that he'd fallen back into unconsciousness about two hours ago, but she didn't care. For once, she could have time alone with him.

She sat carefully down in the chair next to his bed and took his hand in hers, frowning as she realized at how thin it felt. "Dad, it's me, Max," she said softly. She studied his face for a moment, hoping for some sign that he heard her. She grimaced at how much older he seemed now. His face was drawn and pale, with tubes coming from his nose and arms. He looked like an old man. She knew that he wasn't young, but he had never seemed old before.

She remembered how strong his grip had been, and how she had always felt safe in his arms. She would give anything to hear his voice or smell one of his disgusting Kigali cigars again. Maxine fought back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her.

"Daddy," her voice broke slightly. "Dammit, would you just wake up already? Please?"

She sighed and leaned against the rail of his bed. "Y'know," she said, "it's bad enough you missed my graduation, but to leave me in the clutches of Janet, Ruth, and Sharon for a month just wasn't fair! Do you know what Sharon did this morning? Not only did she throw out my favorite pair of jeans -- you remember the ones you helped me iron all those patches onto? -- but she also said I couldn't take the Ferrari today! I mean, you taught me to drive it an' everything, and now she says I can't!"

She sat back in the chair and wiped the tears from her face,. "It just ain't fair! She won't even let me go out with my friends past eleven o'clock. Can you believe it, she gave me a curfew! You always told me to be home by one at the latest! What does she think I am? Twelve?!" She slumped in the chair, grateful for the chance to do it without hearing Janet telling her to sit up straight. "Then there's Kevin, he came over yesterday to visit me and what does Janet do? She grills him like he was under investigation for murder! I doubt he'll ever talk to me again, let alone" She stopped abruptly when one of the monitors gave a loud beep. "Uh, Dad?"

Maxine looked at him hopefully. "Dad, are you waking up? Please be waking up!"

An idea came to her and she grinned. "You know, Daddy, there's this big bush bash that the senior class is holding for one last big blast before we all head off to college." She leaned closer to his ear. "Kevin will definitely be there. I should be able to, ah, persuade him to give me a more personal send off."

"Over my dead body," she heard him whisper.

"Daddy!" Maxine threw her arms around him. "Geez Louise, you're hard to wake up! But I'm glad you did."

His arm came around her shoulder and he held her to him. Maxine smiled and snuggled into him.

"What was this about a send off?" he asked slowly. "And who the hell is Kevin?"

Maxine blushed. "Uh well y'see, Dad it's like this"

His chuckle rumbled pleasantly under her ear. "I know, kiddo, I know."

"I've missed you, Dad," she sighed.

"What'd ya throw?" he joked weakly. "How long?"

Maxine wiped tears from her eyes. "A month or so."

"A month? You sure?" his voice sounded slurred.

Maxine sat up and looked at him, she gasped when she saw his eyes. Little blue-white sparkles danced across his eyes.

"Uh, Dad? Are you feelin' okay?" she asked, worried.

"Just tired, is all," he replied, his voice starting to slur badly now. "I just don't feel like I'm totally awake yet."

Maxine reached over and pressed the button for the nurse. "You sure?"

"I'm okay, Sam," he sighed. "Just that stupid neighbor of mine sleeps all day and works on his bike all night"

Maxine looked at him in surprise. "Sam? Daddy, it's me, Maxine!"

Her father shook his head wonderingly, the sparkles in his eyes growing more intense. "Maxine?"

"Yes, Daddy." She clutched onto his hand. Her heart pounded in her chest. "You're in the hospital. There was an accident at the Project and something exploded."

"Hey kid," he started to mumble.

A nurse came into the room at that point and looked questioningly at Maxine.

"He's awake but there's something wrong!" Maxine sobbed. "Get a doctor, now!"

The nurse took one look at the mumbling Admiral and at the glow emanating from his eyes and took off out of the room at a run.

"Daddy! Please!" she pleaded with him. "Oh please, oh please! Don't be dyin'! Please don't die!"

Maxine sat there, holding his hand, watching the glow around him intensify while listening to snatches of conversations he appeared to be having with people. She caught Sam Beckett's name several times, and then a woman named Reika, her mother, Tina, Gushie, and then the oddest thing; he started talking to women who he thought were his wives by the same names as herself and her sisters!

The doctors and a whole host of nurses came barreling into the room. Maxine found herself shoved roughly to the doorway while they gathered over him.

"His blood pressure is through the roof, doctor!" she heard one of the nurses say.

"God, look at his heart rate. If it keeps up like that," someone else said.

Maxine shifted nervously, trying to see better. "Is he going to be okay?" she asked.

"What the hell is that glow?" one of the doctors muttered. "Don't touch him! You don't know what'll happen!"

Maxine could see the glow even through the wall of doctors now. "Daddy!" she shrieked, gripped with terror that something really bad was happening.

"Oh my god!" the doctor suddenly yelped. "Everybody out! Now!"

All of the doctors and nurses suddenly started to run out of the room, leaving her father alone in the room. Maxine struggled desperately to keep her place by the doorway, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening to her father, as one of the nurses tried to drag her away.

"Daddy!" she shrieked again. "Oh God, Daddy!" She rounded on the nurse and cried, "Dammit, do something! You can't leave him in there alone!"

"Ms. Calavicci, it's for your own safety," the doctor started to say.

"I don't care!" she growled and took a swing at the nurse who had a hold of her arm. The nurse let go out of reflex and Maxine ran back into the room. "Daddy!"

The glow around him was so intense now that she had to squint to be able to see him. He looked like he was in terrible pain as his body twisted and contorted on the bed. She didn't know what was happening to her father but she wasn't about to let him go through it alone! She reached through the glow and caught one of his hands in hers.

"Daddy, it's me Max, I'm here with you," she said to him, tears running down her face. "I love you, Daddy."

There was a sudden flash of blinding light and each of the machines that he was hooked into exploded at the same time. Maxine ducked but a piece of metal caught her across the cheek leaving behind a fiery line of pain. She blinked several times to clear the spots and the tears that obscured her vision, trying desperately to see what had happened to her father.

"Daddy?" she asked, her vision clearing. He came slowly into focus, lying so still on the bed. "Daddy?"

He wasn't breathing! Maxine's heart flip-flopped in her chest as she reached out a trembling hand to find the pulse on his neck and felt nothing.

"Daddy!!" she shrieked, "Don't you dare die! Don't you leave me, Daddy!"

Her years of Girl Scout first aid courses came flooding back to her as she hopped onto the bed and began CPR. _Okay, breathe once, and one, two, three, four, five! Breathe again, and one, two, three, four, five! Come on, Daddy, you're not going to die! We need you! All of us; Janet, Sharon, Ruthie, me, even Donna, Tina, Gushie, and all of them at the Project!_ After five repetitions she felt at his neck again and groaned when there still wasn't a pulse. She continued. _Dammit, Dad! You promised me you would walk me down the aisle at my wedding!_

"Please, Daddy!" she sobbed, "Live!"

Suddenly someone was pulling her off of him. "Ms. Calavicci!"

"NO!" she shrieked.

"Ms. Calavicci! He's alive!"  


* * *


	3. Default Chapter Title

DISCLAMER: All characters belong to Paramount Studios and Bellasarius productions. Used without permission but with lots of  
respect!

Another Stitch In Time  
Chapter Three

* * *

Project Quantum Leap  
Stallions Gate, NM  
July 3, 2001  
13:17hrs

"Bring the probe into position," the man in the lab coat told the soldiers. To the technicians in front of him he said, "Begin recording."

The squad of soldiers rolled the squat gray machine up the ramp to the door of the Accelerator. After a cursory systems check they came back down the ramp to the remote relay.

"Ready, sir," a technician reported.

"Okay, let's send it in. Johnson, enter the code for the door. Smith, power-up and get ready to roll," the man said as he swiveled nervously in his chair.

The technician sitting in front of him keyed in the sequence to open the door. Moments later, on the screen in front of them, they could see the door slowly opening and revealing the glow beyond.

"Wow," exclaimed Johnson. "That's amazing!"

"Keep you comments to yourself, Johnson," the man snapped. "Anything could happen now, and I need your mind on your work."

"Jahvol mein herr!" Johnson muttered but nevertheless watched the screen intently.

"Okay, Smith, send it in," the man told the captain of the squad.

As the probe slowly trundled forward into the chamber, the technicians all held their breath, expecting at any moment for the anomaly to react in the same devastating manner as before. There was a collective sigh of relief when nothing continued to happen.

"I knew it!" the man in the lab coat muttered. "Okay, what do the readings say?"

"Nothing, sir It's like it's not even there," Johnson reported.

"Nothing? That's impossible! We can see it's there. Bring the probe in closer to it," the scientist ordered.

The machine moved closer to the anomaly and still none of the distortion effects that had been experienced before occurred.

"Well?" he asked impatiently.

"Sorry, sir, still nothing," Johnson reported, a note of smugness in his voice.

"Well then, move it right in!" he barked. "We're going to get a reading off of that damn thing one way or another!"

"But, sir," Johnson protested.

"No buts! Move the probe!"

"All right; it's your funeral," Johnson muttered.

The probe moved right up to the glowing anomaly. Suddenly, there was an intense flash and a resounding explosion from inside the Chamber. The probe came flying out of the Chamber like it had been shot out of a cannon, and bounced loudly down the ramp, cartwheeling as it went. Alarms started going off all over the complex as Quantum electricity started arcing out of the Chamber and into the partially reconstructed Control Room. One bolt came crackling out and struck the remote relay, causing a cascade effect along the line of sensor displays. Johnson yelped as the computer display in front of him started to overload, and he ran for cover at the bottom of the ramp to the Control Room. After a short pyrotechnic display, an awed echoing silence settled over the immediate area, punctuated by the sound of the alarms in the background.

"Dammit!" the scientist swore.

From outside the hall, the sound of running feet and shouting voices approaching could be heard. A second later, Sammy, Tom, Jim, Gushie, and Tina came running up the ramp. Sammy stopped short at the sight of the freshly made wreckage in the room, causing the others to barrel into her like a train wreck gone wrong.

"What the HELL has been going on in here?" Sammy growled at the scientist.

"Uh, well, you see, Dr. Fuller I," the scientist stammered.

"Who's the moron who authorized this, because it sure as hell wasn't me! I don't remember authorizing ANYONE to open that door!" she shouted, gesturing at the open Accelerator door, where little shoots of energy could still be seen. "And what the hell was that?" she demanded, pointing at the still twitching and smoldering probe.

"I authorized this, Doctor," the scientist said huffily.

"Uh huh, and who the hell are you?" Sammy asked sarcastically. "I don't remember seeing you before."

"Uh, Sammy?" Tom said hesitantly behind her. "I brought Dr. Kearny in to help out on the Project. He's one of NASA's leading quantum physicists."

Sammy groaned. "Wonderful!" she said, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. "That still doesn't give him the authority to be poking his nose in without permission. I want him gone, Tom."

"Sammy," Tom started to say.

"No, Tom, he's outta here!" She sighed. "Hopefully his little escapade didn't kill anyone." 

--

The blue haze cleared slowly and Sam fell to his knees as a searing pain shot through him. The crippling agony couldn't be described by words, but he felt like he had been turned inside out, only to be put back together backwards by a blind surgeon. He gritted his teeth against the pain and forced his eyes to open.

He was kneeling on a hard floor in a conservative floral dress with a lacey apron. If he weren't already in such horrible pain, he would have groaned anyway. On the floor in front of him were a couple of broken dishes that must have been dropped when either his host had leaped out or when he had leaped in. He looked blearily around the kitchen, hoping for some sign that his Observer was around and could explain the pain he was feeling. Suddenly, in another room he heard a man scream.

Sam scrabbled to his feet and stumbled to the living room where a man was writhing on the floor in pain.

"Sam!" the man shrieked.

Well, at least I'll be able to use my own name this time, Sam thought to himself as he knelt painfully beside the man. He noticed that there was an odd tang of ozone in the air, which reminded him of the air just before a thunderstorm. He reached out gingerly towards the man, fearing he was having a heart attack or stroke or something, and felt for a pulse. There was a tingling sensation that crept up his arm, and the features of the man's face melted away

to reveal a woman.

--

"Dr. Fuller!" the walkie-talkie at Sammy's waist suddenly squalled.

Sammy sighed and lifted it up to her mouth. "What is it?" she asked as her eyes took in the damage of the Control Room.

"I think you should come down here!" the man on the other end said frantically.

"Where?!" she asked exasperatedly.

"The Waiting Room, Ma'am. Two people just appeared in here!"

Sammy looked over at the others in shock. Then, as one, they all rushed out of the Control Room and pelted down the hallways to the Waiting Room.

--

What the hell? Sam thought to himself. Who the hell?

The woman twisted and turned on the floor. Her whole body shimmered with a blue-white light, and little bolts arced off of her. "Sam!" she moaned. "Help me, please!"

Sam held onto her hand, unsure what he could do to help her, unsure of just who she was. There was something very familiar about her Dammit, Al! Where are you?

--

The five of them ran crazily down the last hallway and up the ramp into the Waiting Room. Lying side-by-side on the floor were two people, one the unmistakable form of Dr. Beckett and the other was a blond woman. They both shimmered with a haze of Quantum light.

"How long have they been here?" Sammy asked the Corporal who was on duty breathlessly.

"About five minutes, Ma'am. They just appeared outta nowhere!" he stammered.

Sammy brought her walkie-talkie back up and keyed in a sequence of numbers. "'Bena?" she said.

"Yes?" the doctor replied.

"We've got visitors in the Waiting Room; bring a full team!"

"Visitors?" 'Bena asked.

"Yes, come on! Get down here!" Sammy said and put the walkie-talkie back on her waist.

--

Sam looked down at the woman in confusion. The familiarity grew with intensity to the point that her name was right on the tip of his tongue, but the more he struggled to dredge it up from the depth of his swiss cheesed memory, the more elusive it became.

Suddenly, in his mind came a single word. ~ Sam. ~

"Admiral?" Reika gasped.

"Al?!?" Sam looked around in confusion.

~ I don't got much time here, and I don't know exactly what's going on, but you and Reika need to leap, now! ~ Al's voice said.

Reika! That was it! "Thanks, Al!" Sam blurted out.

~ What for? ~ Al asked.

--

Sammy circled the prone bodies of the two leapee's anxiously. They'd never had them arrive unconscious before, which made her very uneasy. She looked up at the video camera that had been installed in the Waiting Room. "Is that thing on?" she asked. "Please tell me that thing's on!"

"Uh," the corporal stammered, still apparently shaken by the arrival of the two visitors. "I think so."

"You think so?" Tom asked him menacingly.

--

"Al, what's going on?" Sam asked.

~ Beats me, kid. Last thing I remember is talking to you two just before the Accelerator went kablooie! ~ Al replied.

"The Accelerator went kablooie? How much kablooie?" Sam asked, stunned.

~ Uh, well, to be perfectly honest with ya, ~ Al paused. ~ I dunno. ~

Reika's grip on Sam's hand tightened as her back arched off the floor when more and more blue-white bolts sizzled off of her. Her scream echoed through Sam's mind.

~ What the hell?! ~ Al exclaimed. ~ Reika, you okay? ~

"I'd like to go now," she whimpered. "Please?"

"Al?" Sam asked, intensely afraid that he would never hear from his friend again.

~ Aw, go on, kid. I'll be there when you land again. ~ Al replied.

And they leaped.  
--

Sammy studied the blond woman intently. So that's Reika Connelly, huh? she thought to herself. No wonder Al was so preoccupied with her! Sammy crouched down beside her, not daring to touch her since she wasn't quite sure what the glow around them meant yet.

What the hell? Sammy thought when she noticed the brightly glowing spots across the woman's body for the first time. Her uneasiness increased as a theory grew in her mind. She wished fervently she could consult with Zadam over this, but they weren't even close to bringing Ziggy back online. "Oh boy," she whispered to herself.

The glow around the two prone bodies started to intensify. Sammy stood quickly and took some steps backward. She'd seen this enough times to know the warning signs. "They're leaping," she said matter-of-factly to the others.

There was a flash of blue-white light and the space where they had been was empty.

Sammy sighed. "Well, whatever Dr. Beckett had to do, it didn't take much time."

"Is is that what happens every time?" Tom asked, obviously shaken by what he had just witnessed.

Sammy looked over at him. "Most times. Sometimes the leaps are almost instantaneous. Hopefully we've got some breathing room before they leap again."

Verbena and her medical team came running breathlessly up the ramp into the Chamber at that point. Verbena looked around the room in confusion. "I thought we had visitors?"

Sammy chuckled, "They just leaped, 'Bena. I'm sorry."

"So both of them have leaped?" Bena asked.

Sammy nodded. "Apparently we now have two leapers."

There was a sound of a cell phone going off, and simultaneously almost everyone in the room pulled out theirs. Jim held up his hand. "It's mine." he said to the group. "This is Captain Bonnick," he said into his phone as he wandered down the ramp.

Sammy tucked hers back into her pocket. "Well, we've got to move extra quickly now, I think. We know for sure that he's still alive and leaping"

"WHAT?!" came Jim's voice from outside. "Max, slow down! Take a deep breath hon"

Sammy's face paled as she looked sharply at the door to the room. "Oh no," she whispered in horror. "I never even thought that"

"What, Sammy?" Tom asked.

Sammy ignored him and went down the ramp to Jim, as the others followed. "It's Al, isn't it?" she asked him.

Jim nodded. "Apparently Al started glowing and had some kind of seizure. His heart stopped but Maxine did CPR and got it going again. He's alive, but unconscious."

"Dammit!" Sammy swore. "If it had that kind of effect on Al, God only knows what it did to Sam and Commander Connelly." She spun to face Tom, who was standing beside her. "Now you see the effect that incompetent Kearny had!" she snarled. She turned back to Jim, saying, "We're going to have to bring Al here." She looked around Tom to see 'Bena standing behind him. "'Bena, can you prep the infirmary for his arrival please?"

--

  
Military Hospital  
Holloway Air Force Base  
Alamogordo, NM  
July 3, 2001  
14:42hrs

Tom slipped away from the crowd hovering outside of Al's hospital room door and walked quietly down the hallway to another room. For over a month, Donna's condition hadn't changed. She still sat staring at a single point on the wall, apparently unaware of anyone or anything around her. Tom, Katie, and Thelma had visited Donna daily, hoping that their presence would bring her out of her catatonia, with no success.

Tom sat down beside her bed and took her hand in his. "Donna, honey, it's me Tom. I just stopped by to tell you that we're moving Al to the complex, and to tell you about everything else that happened today." He studied her face for a moment. "Donna, Sam's alive He leaped briefly today!"

Her hand tightened slightly around his, causing him to look up suddenly. "Donna? You heard me, didn't you?! Sam's alive, honey! He's still out there and he needs you to help him."

He watched incredulously as the vacant look in her eyes drained away and tears started rolling down her pale face.

"He he's alive?" she said slowly, her voice scratchy from disuse.

Tom grinned. "Yes, Donna. Sam's alive."

She looked at him, with tears still streaming down her face, and smiled. "I want to go home now."  
--

Project Quantum Leap  
Stallions Gate, NM  
July 14, 2001  
10:25hrs

The command staff of Project Quantum Leap crowded into the conference room. The only one missing was Al. They had gathered to hear how Tom's meeting with the Joint Chiefs and the President had gone, and what the fate of the Project would be. As they each took their seats, they couldn't help exchanging worried looks. The month it had taken for a decision to be reached had felt like an eternity for them. Finally, they were going to learn what fate the PTB's had chosen for them. None of them felt much like talking at the moment, making the room seem unnaturally quiet.

Tom entered. His silence and neutral expression gave no hint as to what was to come. An uneasy feeling rippled over the anxious staff.

As Tom took his place at the head of the table, he cleared his throat. "Well, we all know why we're here," he said with a weak smile.

"No kidding," Tina muttered from her seat. "Just get on with it!"

"Well," Tom said as he shifted uneasily in his seat. "First the good news: You're not out of a job."

A relieved sigh was uttered by everyone.

"But," Tom held up his hand, and continued, "there's going to be some strict security protocols enforced, so we'll be seeing Marines around here a lot." He began ticking points off on his fingers. "If we have any contact with the Technomancers in any way, detailed reports will have to be filed with the Chief of Security. The computer checks have been upped from once a month to once a week"

"What?" Gushie said incredulously. "If they do that while Dr. Beckett and Commander Connelly have leaped, it'll take up huge amounts of resources that could be needed"

"Gushie, I understand your concern. I brought that up myself and they agreed that if their check coincides with a leap they'll put it off until the leap is over," Tom said trying to soothe the programmer.

Gushie grumbled something unintelligible but sat back in his chair.

"Continuing on here," Tom smiled. "The computer checks will be extensive, so don't put anything in the system that you don't want anyone else to find, since personal security codes won't keep them out. Now for the bad news: All staff of the Project are required to live on site until the Technomancer situation is resolved, and all leave will have to be cleared with security."

"B but, that's impossible!" Sammy blurted out. "There's over two hundred people that work here! And if they're foisting more rent-a-cops on us, then there won't be enough housing"

"Out of that two hundred, only fifty or so are directly involved in the actual Project." Tom interrupted her. "All non-essential personnel, such as the scientists who were running non-related experiments and their staff, will be moved to another location just as suitable to their needs. The Joint Chiefs want to move some of their own brain boys in for a while. For the most part, these staffing additions will be specialists that you may find of use. Plus, housing for the military staff will be simple to construct, so we won't be tripping over them at every turn."

"What you're telling us," Donna said softly, "is that there's going to be a major restructuring of the Project."

Tom nodded. "I'm afraid so, Donna. As far as the Brass is concerned, this Project has gone from a simple Time Travel experiment gone wrong to a major operation of National Defense and Neutralization."

"And just what is 'Neutralization' I wonder?" Tina asked sarcastically.

"Well, to answer that question, Neutralization refers to the removal of the Technomancer threat. I think that you'll probably agree with at least some of the objectives that they've come up with to achieve this. The first item on their list is to retrieve Sam and Commander Connelly," Tom finished with a wide grin as he looked at the amazed and - finally! - pleased faces looking at him from around the briefing table.

--

August 6, 2001  
13:35hrs

"The connection has been stabilized, Gushie," came Sammy's voice over the intercom. "Ready to begin data transfer."

"Affirmative, Dr. Fuller," Gushie said as he checked the panel in front of him. "Begin transfer."

"Transfer begun," she confirmed.

Gushie's fingers danced across his display. "Data conversion in process; bio matrix is holding steady; all circuits holding." He watched the code flash across the screen. "I think we can speed up the transfer; everything looks good," he said with a pleased grin.

Sammy chuckled. "Okay, hitting the turbo button now."

Gushie looked over at Tina, who was sitting beside him, and grinned at her. She replied with a sexy smile that almost broke his concentration.

"Transfer will be complete in ten nine eight seven," Sammy counted down.

Gushie turned back to his display. "Six five four," he counted with her.

"Three two one!"

Gushie sighed in relief. Everything looked good. "Shall I initiate re-start?" he asked.

"Not without me there, you won't!" came Sammy's astonished reply. "I'll be there in a minute."

Gushie and Tina waited anxiously for her to arrive. After a minute or so, Sammy, Tom, Jim, and Donna came up the ramp into the Control Room.

"Well, here goes nothing," Gushie muttered. He pressed in a sequence on the panel and said, "Attention, all personnel! We are initiating a re-start! I repeat, we are initiating a re-start! Get out of the elevators, flush the toilet, and hang on to your hats! All systems will be re-starting!"

He heard someone chuckle but kept his eyes on his display. "Initiating re-start," he said as he keyed in the sequence.

The lights dimmed more and more as system after system shut down. For a heartbeat or two, they all stood in darkness. As the systems came back up, and with them the lights, they could all be seen looking up at the clear white globe hanging above the control console. Slowly, the globe darkened until it turned a sapphire blue, and then little white stars started to swirl within it. There came a chime, and then a familiar female voice said: "Re-initialization complete. All systems are online and functioning properly."

Everyone in the Control Room cheered.

--

August 17, 2001  
11:26hrs

"So far, there's no signs of brain damage," a voice intruded into the warm envelope of darkness around him.

"Daddy? Can you hear me?" another said.

"It's incredible! I can't believe how quickly his injuries healed"

He turned away from the voices and looked into the void. "Well?" he asked.

~ Soon. ~ came the reply.

"Enough of the 'soon', crap, already!" he exclaimed, exasperated. "Some people have got a life, y'know?"

There came a chuckle. ~ They're almost there. ~

"'Bout time," he muttered. Then a thought occurred to him. "When can they?"

~ Soon. ~

He rolled his eyes. "Again with the 'soon'?! Can't you find another word? Maybe two?"

~ Okay, ~ was the reply, and then, ~ Now. ~  
--

"Daddy?" a female voice said,. "Daddy, are you awake?"

Al struggled to open his eyes. "Another five minutes," he mumbled.

"C'mon, Dad," another female called. "Wakey, wakey!"

"Shh, Ruthie, don't rush him," a third female voice said. "He needs to wake up on his own."

There was an exasperated sigh. "And you would know, wouldn't you, Sharon? Miss Third Year Medical Student?" Ruthie sniped.

"Don't you get snarky with me, Miss I-don't-know-what-I-want-to-do-with-my-life!"

"Would you two just knock it off?" said a fourth female voice. "This is neither the time nor the place to be bickering like children"

"Shut up, Janet!" the first voice said. "I'm sick and tired of hearing Ms. Military Ice Queen boss everyone around!"

"Max!" Janet cried.

"Girls, please!" Al moaned, opening his eyes for the first time. "Your Dad has got one heck of a head thumper! Have mercy! Please?"

His four daughters looked down at him in shock, and then he suddenly found himself being hugged to death by four hysterical women.

* * *

That's it for now... but I need reviews! What did you think of the Into The Night series? What do you think of where it's going now? Please review! I know you're out there... I can hear you breathing!

Lady Aurora  



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